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The EU fishing fleet - Trends and economic results

This publication summarises the key findings of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) ‘2016 Annual Economic Report on the EU Fishing Fleet’. It provides additional insight on recent trends in economic performance of the EU fleet and the potential drivers behind them, with supplementary analyses by main fishing region and type of fishing activity. It also includes evidence from recent studies and market analysis.

The European Fisheries Fund and the EU fish processing industry

The Economic Paper n° 02/2016 was produced by experts of the Structural Policy and Economic Analysis Unit of DG MARE and experts of the Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen at the Joint Research Centre (JRC).

Next year the number of fish stocks managed at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels will rise to 59, and there will be additional protection for the European eel. At the same time EU fishermen in the Atlantic and the North Sea will be able to increase their catches of a number of healthy stocks.

Last week’s annual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) adopted an important and binding measure to reduce the risk of entanglement from FADs by 2020. FADs, or “fish aggregating devices”, are floating fishing gear mainly used for tuna fishing. However, they also attract other species, including various kinds of pelagic shark. The new measure to avoid such by-catches was adopted at the proposal of the European Union.